Return to Monsters' Inc
by Kessie-Louise
Summary: Ten years has passed since Mary Gibbs ran into the world of monsters. Now almost grown up, she regards her adventures as a dream. But when her sister is dragged into the monster world by a familiar shape, Mary and her friend Leslie join Sulley and Mike to find her sister. Nothing is as it seems, but everything is still the same. FF. net exclusive, read and review!
1. Ten Years Later

"Mary!" five year old Emma Gibbs shouted in fear from her bedroom. "Maaary!"

Across the hall, fourteen year old Mary stirred from her sleep. As much as she loved her sister, it wasn't worth getting up out of her warm and comfortable bed for. Not worth it at all. A few minutes of not going to see what was wrong with her sister, Mary's door opened to an annoyed looking girl. The little girl crawled up into Mary's bed and snuggled beside her.

"You know," Mary groggily told her sister, "I never had a big sister to go to when I thought I saw a monster in my closet."

"You never had monsters that broke into your house to tell you a silly story about talking cars." Emma shot back. Mary didn't have it in her at the moment to retort back, and went back to sleep. She'll save the argument for the morning when she had to explain to her mother about her lack of sleep.

. . . . . . . . . .

"Good morning ladies." their grandfather greeted as they came into the kitchen and dining room area. Emma and Mary mumbled a reply in unison, and sat in different places. Mary sat at the table, Emma scrambled onto the bar stool at the counter. Their grandfather looked at Mary.

"Why aren't you over at the counter seat? You love sitting there."

"Don't have enough energy Grandpa." Mary said drowsily. "I don't wanna walk that far."

"Since when?" her grandfather laughed.

"Since Em decided to wake me up in the middle of the night because of monsters in her closet." Mary said, leaning her head on the table with a dreamy smile.

"Well, it's not MY fault he doesn't know how to tell good jokes!" Emma said defensively as their grandmother served her a plate of pancakes and eggs.

"Not my fault you come into my room to begin with." Mary sleepily retorted, giving a yawn. "Again I repeat little darling, I never had a big sister I could run to when I thought there were monsters in my closet."

"Now see here Marion," their grandmother imputed as she gave Mary her plate of pancakes, "You may not have had a big sister, but you had me and your grandfather right down the hall when you'd come panicking about them."

"And Mommy and Daddy argued that you were spoiling me." Mary agreed with a smile, sitting up. "Good times."

"For the record," their grandfather added, "You were very spoiled Mary. You got away with a lot of things when you were younger. Including that one issue you had when you were nearly three."

"It was Kitty, wasn't it?" Emma asked proudly, she knew the story well. Mary had told Emma a lot of things that Mary remembered from her life before her sister. One of them was a vague memory of a person she called 'Kitty.'

"Yes sweetie, the exact same." her grandmother confirmed with a smile. Emma smiled proudly at her guess before digging in to breakfast. Mary slowly followed suit.

"Where are Mommy and Daddy any way?" Emma asked, after swallowing a large amount of pancake down her throat.

"Your father had to go into work early today." their grandmother told them, "Your mother is still at her meeting in DC."

"I didn't think hair cutters needed to have meetings." Mary said. "They just get a degree to cut hair and off they go!"

"But they need to have their license renewed to own their salon to begin with." her grandmother reminded her.

"And they have to have a week long meeting in DC to do that?" Mary asked, smiling a little to show she was only teasing her grandmother. "That's a little asinine, don't you think?"

Her grandmother gave her a smile.

"Eat your breakfast Marion." she said. Mary laughed and did as she was told.


	2. Kitty Returns

Later, after lunch, Mary and Emma sat in the middle of Mary's room with playing cards and teddy bears.

"Ted says that he doesn't have any threes. He wants you to go fish." Emma said, motioning toward a brown teddy bear with black spots.

"Are you sure Ted isn't cheating?" Mary asked her sister, "He said he hasn't had anything for the past nine rounds!"

"No, I'm sure he's not. Neon is the one who's cheating." Emma told her, motioning toward a small, light blue bear, "Look at how many pairs he has!"

"If you say so." Mary said, not sure if that was the case. "Arthur wants to know if anyone has a joker."

"No." Emma said, looking at a black teddy with glasses. "Go fish."

Mary got a card for the bear and resumed the game. A few moments later, the doorknob on Mary's closet door started to giggle slightly. Both sisters looked up, then they looked at each other.

"Do you remember what Kitty looked like Mary?" Emma asked. Mary had to close her eyes and make a funny face to see if she remembered.

"He was tall... and blue... with purple spots. I think." she said. Emma nodded as the door slowly opened. Sure enough, a large monster with the same description made a short scan from the door.

"Boo?" he said softly.

"Kitty." Emma said, loud enough for him to hear. The monster looked up at her voice and smiled. Mary was dumbfounded. The monster went from Emma to Mary, to which he looked instantly afraid of. Emma took quick note of this.

"Don't be scared of her, she's my sister." Emma told the monster. "Her name is Mary, and she's told me a lot about you. Or... at least what she remembers of you."

"She told you..." the monster said slowly, as if trying to understand. He then looked at Mary again. "Boo?"

"I know you..." Mary slowly admitted. "But I can't remember who..."

The monster made his way into the bedroom, taking care not to completely shut the door.

"Boo," he said, slowly, as to make sure she could completely understand... or as if she were deaf, "My name is Kitty. Well, it's actually James P. Sullivan, but you... you called me Kitty."

"Well I know your name, your nickname," Mary said with a smile. "It's one of the things I remember most about you."

"You remember?"

"Kind of. Not everything though, and it kills me to say it. But I do remember some things."

Kitty smiled.

"Don't you have another nickname?" Mary asked, tilting her head.

"Yeah, I do." Kitty said, grinning wider. "It's Sulley."

"Sulley." Mary repeated with a nod. Emma stood up and started to walk toward Sulley. She gave him one big smile and gave him an even bigger hug.

"I've always wanted to meet you." the child said happily. Sulley looked at Mary, not sure what to do.

"Her name's Emma." Mary told him.

"I've always wanted to meet you too... Emma." Sulley said, picking the girl up and giving her a hug. Suddenly, a noise came from the other side of the closet and Sulley quickly put Emma back down again.

"I have to go." Sulley told the girls, mostly toward Mary. "But I'll be back again. Sooner, if all goes well."

"I'll be waiting." Mary told him as he went through the door and shut it. Emma and Mary then looked at each other.

"We're gonna keep this a secret, aren't we?" Emma asked curiously.

"Oh yeah." Mary agreed with a nod.


	3. When Can I See You Again?

"So Boo's real name is Mary? Uh, who knew, the kid had a real name." Sulley's friend Mike said after Sulley had told him what he had seen.

"You're not getting it Mike." Sulley told his friend. "I can't stay away from her as long as last time. It's only been a year in our world Mike, and it's been much, much longer in hers."

"So what do you plan on doing?" Mike asked, not really willing to hear what he feared he would.

"I'm gonna visit every day." Sulley said. "In our world. Then we'll see how long it is for her, and make it an annual thing."

Mike made a sound of disapproval.

"We can't do that Sulley!" Mike told his friend. "We weren't even supposed to do this! What makes you think that going into Boo's world every day is a safe idea? What if she wants to come back to visit? She can't! We may no longer think kids are toxic, but that doesn't mean that the CDA can't still banish us if she runs loose!"

"I know Mike." Sulley sighed. "But I just can't... I don't want to lose her again."

Mike stared at his friend in disbelief. It wouldn't have been the first time, but it wasn't going to be the last either.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Mike told his friend, shaking his head.

. . . . . . . . . .

"What're we gonna do when Kitty comes back, Mary?" Emma asked her sister. The two were ready for bed and in PJs. They had decided to sleep in Mary's bedroom, in case Sulley came back during the night.

Mary bit her lower lip. A part of her doubted she would see him back (I mean, it took him HOW long last time?) but a part of her knew he would keep his promise.

"We'll figure it out when we get there." Mary told her sister, giving her a knowledgeable look. Emma studied her sister for a few moments before nodding in agreement.

As the girls started to snuggle under Mary's bed covers, Emma asked,

"Will Kitty be back Mary?"

Mary closed her eyes for a moment and sighed.

"I hope so sweetie." she said. She then leaned to give her sister a kiss before turning off the light.

In a matter of a few moments, Emma was fast asleep. But Mary couldn't find sleep for the life of her. She felt compelled to do something she hadn't done in years. Was it still too childish to do so?

Slowly and carefully, Mary got out of bed and tip toed to her closet door. She put her hand on the door knob and paused. This was silly. It was childish. She KNEW better. But... old habits do die hard. Mary closed her eyes as she slowly opened the door. She opened them again to find her clothes on a rod connected to the wall, and boxes with shoes and hats on the floor of the closet. Mary closed the door again with a sigh.

It's been years, nearly a whole decade even. She always knew that when she opened the door that no one would be there; just clothes, and boxes, and shoes, and other things she'd hide from the world. Not monsters. Mary turned to face away from the door and leaned on it. She slowly slid to the floor as she let out another sigh.

"Kitty..." Mary said to herself, curling herself into a ball. "Why didn't you come back sooner..."

. . . . . . . . . .

"I promise Boo," Sulley said to himself as he looked at a drawing Mary had made when she was small that he had on his clipboard, "I'll be back sooner."

But even Sulley wasn't sure if this was the case or not. Again, the time difference between the monster world to the human world apparently ran drastically different than the other. Would a simple day for him be a month for her? A week? Maybe even more? He really didn't want to think about it personally, but neither of them could deny that it was on their minds that night. How long would it be this time?


	4. Faith, Trust, and Remodeling

Some time near lunch the next day, Mary's friend, Leslie Adams, gave the Gibbs family a visit. And all she did was argue against Mary's room.

"It's time for a change Marion!" Leslie declared. "I think all this room needs is some new furniture and a new coat of paint."

"Leslie, I am NOT remodeling my room." Mary told her friend with sigh.

"And that closet door..." Leslie said, ignoring Mary, "That design..."

"There's nothing wrong with my door!" Mary exclaimed in horror. "Leslie Marie Adams, don't you dare touch that door!"

Leslie looked at her friend.

"I wouldn't think a door would mean so much to someone." came the reply. "But after all these years, do you think I'll REALLY let you get rid of it? I mean, when this room is going to be remodeled, it's going to center around that door obviously."

"One of these days I'm going to kill you..." Mary told Leslie, shaking her head.

"And I would totally deserve it." Leslie agreed. Mary smiled and laughed a little.

. . . . . . . . . .

"And that is what I propose we do to Mary's room during renovations." Leslie told Mary's grandparents at lunch. Mary had her face buried in her hands. She did want her room redecorated, but then again she didn't. But was Leslie going to listen? Not likely. That girl was a breed all her own.

"You agreed to this Mary?" Mary's grandfather asked, being the one who would end up funding the 'expedition.' Mary nodded her head.

"With groans and eye rolls." she confirmed.

"As long as you agree to it, then it's fine." her grandfather told her.

"I've agreed, and I'm going to it." Mary told her grandfather, as if repeating it would push her denial way. Her grandfather gave her a look of doubt, and Mary easily returned it. She trusted her friend, but she still had doubts.

. . . . . . . . . .

Mike trusted Sulley, there was no doubt in that, but he still had his doubts about his long time friend's decision. Sulley had cleared his schedule so that he had time each day to spend an hour in Boo... erm, Mary's... world. Did she really mean that much to him? What did that girl have that Mike didn't? Okay, so he couldn't deny that Sulley had offered to let Mike come too to see her again, and Celia as well if she wanted to. But the whole danger behind the idea... was it really worth the risk? What if the CDA found out? Or Roz?!

However, Mike had known that something like this was going to happen again if he rebuilt that door for his friend; who never really asked for anything... ever! But there was a way to blow things completely out of hand as well. There was no turning back from what they were doing, and maybe Mary understood that too in all hopes.

Or, maybe, things might actually work out this time. What could possibly go wrong?

. . . . . . . . . .

Meanwhile, on Laughing Floor H, a rookie Laugher left his door in its station, and had forgot to turn it off before going on break. So when no one was looking, slowly, the doorknob began to turn on the door and it opened. A purple lizard monster came out of the door cautiously. Once he found the coast was clear, he slithered under a desk, then another. He started to make his way out of the Laughing Floor by going under the desks. It had been eleven years in the human world, it had been that long since he was banished, and now he was back in his world (the monster world) again... which seemed to have only aged a year at the most.

He was going to find her, and those ignorant creeps who helped her get back home. He was going to find them and destroy them. They ruined everything and they were going to pay.


	5. It's Magic!

Mary, Leslie, and Emma had made a three-girl cleaning troupe as they evacuated Mary's stuff from her room. It had only been two days since asking her grandfather for the renovation and Mary's room had been stripped bare, spare for the furniture that had to be moved around by someone else. Leslie had convinced Mary's grandfather that they needed new furniture, so the old furniture was sold two days later. Now, according to Leslie, was when the 'magic' happened. What Mary found it as 'noxious paint fumes.'

With songs that had fast and loud beats, Leslie and Mary had painted Mary's room a new light pastel blue color that replaced the blue and yellow striped wallpaper from before. Each wall took them a day, meaning that by the time they had finished painting completely, they had reached a week since they had first started working. Mary had to sit back and think this over for a moment, but when she did that she realized something; Sulley hadn't come back at all. Then Mary started to hate herself for being so stupid. For being so... childish!

How did she believe that he was going to come back again? WHAT made her believe that he would come back again?

_Your sister, _a tiny voice inside Mary whispered,_ Emma was the reason why you wanted to believe that he would come back. When she saw him for the first time when he came through that closet door after hearing so many stories about him ten years after the event actually happened, that was the look you gave him when you saw him. You recognized it, didn't you? Didn't you?_

Mary walked into her grandparents' room and collapsed on their bed. Her old bed was out in the wood pile (it was old any way) and her new bed wasn't going to be at the door step until another few days, so for now, she was sleeping on anything with a cushion. Safe to say, she wasn't getting much sleep. Maybe just a little nap...

Goodness knows how much time had past, but when Mary slowly woke, she could hear her grandmother say;

"Don't wake her Peter. We'll leave dinner in the microwave for her if she isn't up by the time we go to bed."

"I won't Jill, I'm just tucking her in. Our Marion is growing up, and we're getting closer to our death beds in the mean time, let me relish in the moment for a while."

Mary heard her grandmother chuckle a little.

"Come on sweetie, let Mary sleep."

After the sounds of her grandparents leaving the room, and the door shutting behind them, the room became silent again. Waiting a few minutes, Mary rolled out of the bed and started down to the living room. The TV was on, which meant that someone else was awake.

"Dad?" Mary asked, seeing her father on the couch. He looked up at her and smiled.

"Don't sound so surprised." he said, smiling. "It's not that late, it's only-"

"Now it's time for the twelve o'clock news," the TV announcer broke in, "With your host, Ben Landers and Nina Violet with the weather."

"Okay it's late." Mary's father admitted, as if the TV had exposed his lie. "Your dinner is in the microwave, I tried to take it but your grandmother gave me a good wrist slap for it."

Mary giggled, easily visualizing her grandmother correcting her son.

"After you heat up your dinner, because I'm sure you're starving," her father went on, "Come sit with me and we'll see if we can get away with a pay-per-view movie."

Mary nodded with a smile and went to heat up her dinner and spent the rest of the night with her father watching an old family film predating her father's birth. They both ended up falling asleep on the couch, and as a result they deserved being woken suddenly when Emma got permission to blast radio feedback from the stereo in the morning to wake them up.


	6. All In the Family

After slowly finding his way back to a secret underground lab at Monster's Inc, the purple lizard monster took a moment to breathe. Cobwebs have formed around a control panel that was hooked to a broken machine. In faded painted letters on the broken main piece of the machine, the words 'Scream Extractor' were barely legible. The monster snarled. The invention would have been a revolution, but they just HAD to prove that children's laughter was a greater power source. Laughter, of all things!

The monster looked over the machine carefully. It would take some work, but it could be operational again. At first, the purple lizard monster thought he could see if he could recruit his assistant, Fungus, again but instantly scratched the idea. If everyone was living in a peaceful oblivion for the first time in centuries, Fungus was sure to tell someone that he had come out of his banishment without little thought. No, he had to get someone else, someone who wouldn't tell a soul. Then he had it. Quickly, the monster went over to the control panel and went into an old box that was under it. Digging around for a while, the monster found a picture of a younger monster that looked liked a lot like him, but was colored differently. The purple lizard monster turned the photo to look at a series of numbers written on the back, along with the note;

_Call if you want, actually talk about something other than your vendetta tough._

The monster smiled in an almost smirk. It was time for a little father-son bonding after all these years...

. . . . . . . . . .

"We should have ordered from Ikea." Leslie frowned.

"And that's why Grandpa used to make furniture in his glory days." Mary told her. Sure enough, Mary's grandfather was assembling Mary's new bed. Her new bed featured a beautifully carved headboard and foot board that was long enough to hold a twin queen sized mattress with according box spring mattress. A matching dresser had already been assembled and a vanity still awaited them. But at least Mary would be sleeping on a new bed tonight.

"Last bolt girls," Mary's grandfather announced, "Then we'll break for some of Grandma's lemon tea."

"Thank you so much Grandpa." Mary said happily, giving her grandfather a hug around the neck.

"Bed and dresser first," he told her, "I'm not having you sleeping on the couch again."

Mary smiled and helped her grandfather clean up his tools, then they went with Leslie down to the kitchen.

"Finished?" Mary's grandmother's asked, nearly hopeful. Leslie noticed this but pretended not to, but it was still fairly insulting to her.

"Still got that vanity." Mary's grandfather told her. "Then a bedside table, but compared to the other furniture, it'll be a snap."

"After that?" Mary's grandmother asked.

"Shelves!" Leslie happily exclaimed. "I've also commissioned some letter lights that spell our Mary's name (M-A-R-Y that is) and some mood lights for disco nights."

"Disco night?" Mary asked, both amused and curious.

"Yeah! Our Billboard Top 100 dance jams ain't gonna set the lights themselves!"

Mary thought about it for a moment, then nodded in agreement. Fair enough.

. . . . . . . . . .

Outside his apartment, a blue lizard monster with green spots here and there stared darkly out to a few child monsters playing jump rope with another child monster's tongue. The monster wasn't sure why he felt so dark, maybe it was because he had finally heard back from his father... after a year of being banished from the monster world.

"Hello Nathaniel..." a familiar voice said next to him. Speaking of banished monsters...

"Dad." the blue lizard monster said to the purple lizard monster. "Randal Boggs, whatever you want to be called since you're supposed to be banished."

The purple lizard monster recoiled.

"I need to talk to you Nathaniel. It's time we've bonded as father and son."

The blue lizard monster raised an eyebrow. This had to be good...


	7. The Plot Thickens

The next day, Mary, Leslie, and Emma had a mini party in Mary's now completed bedroom. Allowing her grandfather to sleep the rest of the day in exchange for fixing up her new vanity and bedside table. Leslie admitted the the shelves weren't REALLY needed, but there _was_ a lava lamp coming...

But that didn't matter at the moment. Mary's father had enjoyed the new room pretty well. He described it as 'quaint but not girlie' and that it 'suited' Mary, to which Leslie graciously thanked. Then, Leslie convinced him that since they spent a hard time working on the room, she should spend the night. And graciously enough, he let her.

Around the time they were supposed to go to sleep, Emma was the first to lay down in Mary's bed while Mary and Leslie went to sneak something from the fridge. As the girls came up from the kitchen, they would hear Emma frantically call out;

"Mary!"

Instantly, Mary kicked into second gear and opened her bedroom door to find that a blue lizard monster had picked up her sister. Emma was pounding on the monster in protest, using all her strength.

"You!" Mary shouted, realizing she recognized the figure, who looked around to stare at her for a moment. Quickly, the monster left through her closet door. Just as quick, Mary ran directly behind it.

"Mary, what are you doing?!" Leslie cried behind her. Mary didn't listen as the monster nearly shut the door behind her, but Mary took a quick dive. Quickly, Mary stood up and looked around. This... place, like a warehouse almost, looked so familiar...

"Mary!" Emma called out again, snapping Mary out of her trance. Unfortunately, after taking the time to have forgotten memories flash back at her, Emma and her monster captor were far away from her.

"I'll find you Emma!" Mary called to her sister, still in hearing range. Her little sister gave a grave nod as she and her captor turned the corner.

"Mary..." a low, near fearful voice said from Mary's closet door, which (in this world) was on a holding frame. Mary turned around to look at Leslie, who had come through the door as well, since the monster that kidnapped Emma didn't turn the frame off in time.

"Leslie," Mary began, not sure how to explain, "This is Monsters, Inc. I came here eleven years ago by accident, and now I'm here again to save my sister. Are you going to help me?"

"If I go back, I can't tell anyone. Can I?" Leslie asked, jaw dropped in awe and shock.

"Who would believe you?" Mary asked, letting the unspoken 'No one did when I told them' go unspoken. Leslie looked at her friend.

"I'd be crazy to say 'no,' you do realize." Leslie then informed her. Mary laughed and happily gave her friend a hug.

. . . . . . . . . .

"That's not her!" an angry purple lizard monster shouted at a younger looking, blue lizard monster. "It's been eleven years in the human world, not three!"

"She was the only one in the room 'Dad.'" the blue lizard monster said, using the term 'dad' in a rather rude manner. Emma had been strapped into a chair that was connected to some kind of machine she thought resembled a big plunger attached to a vacuum, which in turn was connected to more than a few yellow canisters. Emma was wiggling from her spot, believing that if she wiggled enough, she could be free. Like in the movies. The purple lizard looked at her menacingly, and walked over to her.

"Who are you?" he asked, pretending to be nice. Emma wasn't buying it. "She'd be too young to have a daughter already..."

"I don't talk to strangers." Emma retorted, giving him a raspberry, which the blue lizard found funny. The purple lizard scowled and he turned to the blue lizard.

"Did anyone see you bring this child through the door?" he asked. The blue lizard's face changed color. The purple lizard smiled wide.

"She's here too." he said in a happily evil manner.


	8. Calling in Backup

"Mary, what are you doing?" Leslie asked helplessly as Mary ransacked a receptionist counter.

"I'm looking for someone." she said without thinking.

"In a receptionist counter? Who would you be looking for in there?"

Mary stopped for a moment to look at her friend. Her look was serious.

"Really?" she asked. "You really think someone is hiding in here?"

Leslie shrugged indifferently but said nothing, leaving Mary to return to her search.

"Ah ha!" Mary said after awhile upon finding an address book. Then she started to skim through the pages for the correct name, then started to dial the number listed.

"What are you doing?" Leslie hissed as the phone started to work over whatever networking system monsters had for their phones. Mary held up a finger as the phone rang over to an answering machine.

"Hello, Mr. James Sullivan," Mary said in an authoritative tone she had heard a million times from her paternal family members, "This is Double O-7 from the CDA. There seems to be a break in at the factory, a HUMAN break in. Please come along with Mike Wazowski. I will be waiting for you in the main lobby when you come. Also arrive within ten minutes after I hang up, otherwise what happened last time WILL show in light. Thank you."

Mary hung up the phone and looked at Leslie's face. Dumbstruck and in awe, Leslie mouthed the words 'You lied!' because her vocal cords have stopped working from the surprise. For a moment, Mary relished in the moment a little more than she should have, then she came out of it to get down to business. Mess with a Gibbs and you will die by a Gibbs.

"I believe that whoever kidnapped Emma is still in the building." Mary told Leslie. "We have to be careful until Mike and Sulley get here. I have an odd feeling that Emma wasn't the kidnap-ee main target."

"Who is it then?" Leslie asked, curious but had a feeling she already knew. Mary closed her eyes for a moment. If that figure was who she thought it was...

"Me." Mary said, opening her eyes again. Leslie nodded her head solemnly.

. . . . . . . . . .

"They lock this building tight." the purple lizard monster (who Emma had decided was called Randall, since that's what the blue lizard monster sometimes called him) said to the blue lizard monster, "The child will still be here, even if she gets Sullivan and Wazowski, it will take them a while to get here. Find her before then, or the whole plan will be ruined. Understand Nathaniel?"

The blue lizard monster (Nathaniel, Emma decided) agreed with a nod, but looked as if he really didn't want to take orders. Then he slid out of the lair without a sound, leaving Emma alone with Randal.

"Tell me," Randall said, "How is Marion doing?"

Emma looked at Randall suspiciously.

"How do you know Mary's name?" she asked.

"Why, silly girl, I used to scare her."

Emma's eyes widened.

"You!" she said, fear beginning to well up inside her, "You were banished!"

"Ah yes, I was." Randall sneered. "And after eleven of your human years, I came back to my home land. To take revenge on those who don't quite understand the situation I'm in."

Emma snarled.

"Mary will find you, and she'll stop you with Kitty!"

"Ah yes, Sullivan." Randall said, walking over to pat the Scream Extractor. "He and Wazowski don't stand a chance this time, especially if I get rid of two innocent little girls at once..."

Emma looked at the Scream Extractor and cringed with fear.


	9. Sullivan and Wasowski

Nathaniel peered around a corner that looked into the main lobby. There were humans out there, two girls.

"Okay, I think I got it this time." one of the girls with strawberry-blond hair and glasses said, sitting on top of the receptionist desk, "Just say it one more time to be clear."

The other girl who's near black hair was cut shorter with bangs, looked up at the other girl with a fierce look.

"I've told you everything I remember Leslie! What more do I need to tell you?" Black-bangs asked, almost demanding. Strawberry-glasses looked down, not sure how to respond. Almost instantly, Black-bangs looked remorseful for shouting.

"Leslie... I'm..."

"No, I know why you're acting like this. Your sister's been kidnapped and your backup has yet to arrive although it's only been, like, five minutes. Mary, if you want to me to shut up, just tell me."

Black-bangs smiled at her friend, and gave her a hug, which almost made Strawberry-glasses fall over in surprise.

"YouarethebestestfriendeverandIdonotdeserveyou!" Black-bangs said in one long string. Taking an opportunity in the moment, Nathaniel slithered closer to the girls. How he was going to capture just one (he believed Black-bangs was his target, due to her looking so much like the little girl) was another issue he had to figure out. Suddenly, Black-bangs looked up from hugging her friend.

"Did you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what?" Strawberry-blond asked, confused. Nathaniel held his breath as Black-bangs slowly began to wonder closer to him, until the front doors opened.

"Kitty!" Black-bangs said thankfully, forgetting her age upon the entrance of Sullivan and Wazowski.

"Boo!" Sullivan said in surprise, not knowing that Black-bangs was there apparently.

"Sulley," Black-bangs said, getting herself together, "A monster came through my closet door and took my sister. I think I know who but..."

"But what kid?" Wasowski, who came in with Sullivan, asked although he wasn't liking how she was hesitating.

"I didn't see it all the way," the girl slowly said, "But it was a lizard monster..."

The two monsters looked at each other and in one breath they both said,

"Randall."

"How did he get back?" Sullivan asked.

"The same way we did!" Wasowski told him in revelation. "Geez Sulley, how did we think that idea would last for long?! All it did was buy us a year!"

"Ten years and some in my case." Black-bangs interjected. Strawberry-blond had gone silent, choosing not to interrupt the moment. The conversation continued from there, giving Nathaniel the time to leave unnoticed. He slithered back into the underground lair where his father was harshly interviewing the little girl they had captured instead of Black-bangs. After growing quite bored of the casual 'I don't talk to strangers' shtick, the kid had reverted to constantly asking 'why' for everything instead. When Randall noticed that Nathaniel was back, he instantly handed the kid over to him.

"Watch her, I need to get something from the locker rooms." Randall had told his son before almost immediately leaving.

"Yeah, sure," Nathaniel said sarcastically after his father had left, "Nice to see you too after I could have jeopardized the entire mission. No pressure or anything."

"Why does your daddy want Mary so badly? What did she ever do to him?" the little girl asked, tilting her head to the side in curiosity. Nathaniel looked over at her.

"You know what," he told her. "I really don't care anymore."

"Then can we be friends?" the little girl then asked him. "You're a lot nicer than your daddy."

Nathaniel smiled, weakly.

"We could." he told the girl, in which she smiled at herself.


	10. Mess With, Die By

"Do you think it would work?" Mary asked Sulley and Mike.

"It's worth a shot kid." Mike told her. Mary looked at Sulley.

"Do you think it would work?" she asked again, directly only at him. The big blue monster said nothing, only... stared at her. Mary glared at him. His lack of response was beginning to scare her. Leslie sensed this and inched closer to Mary in case the girl would attack the monster. Mary was on edge because her sister was at the mercy of a villain. Mess with a Gibbs, die by a Gibbs.

"Well?" Mary asked, starting to grow very angry. "Do you have anything to say Sullivan?"

That make him respond a little.

"What if Randall catches you?" the monster finally said.

"And what? Kills me?" Mary retorted. "He's not going to do that. Even if he does, I would be honored to go out that way as long as Emma was safe. She's my sister, my _little_ sister, it's my blood duty to protect her with my life. If I can't save her, who will? You protected me once, but you can't protect Emma like I can. If you can't get that, then I guess you don't need to come through that closet door anymore."

For a moment, the only thing anyone could do was looked at Mary. Leslie started to pull Mary away.

"Come on, we have to go now or Randall might find us." she told her friend. Mary stood where she was.

"What is it Sulley?" Mary asked, finally letting Leslie pull her away.

"Come on Sull," Mikey said, pushing Sulley away too, "We have work to do..."

. . . . . . . . . .

"I'm gonna leave for a few minutes, alright kid?" Nathaniel asked Black-bangs's sister. The little girl smiled.

"You'll bring Mary too, right?" she asked, sounding serious.

"And be back before..."

"Your daddy comes?"

"Yeah, before Dad comes back."

"Good, he scares me..."

Nathaniel gave a side-smile.

"It's nothing personal kid, it's just part of his job."

The kid gave a small smile back before Nathaniel slithered away to roam the halls of Monsters Inc. He wandered at first, but when he began to hear voices, he decided to follow them. To his luck, it was Black-bangs and Strawberry-glasses.

"It's amazing how much you remember although you haven't been here in ages." Strawberry-glasses remarked as the two walked along the hallways.

"I know right?" Black-bangs (Mary, as Nathaniel remembered her sister calling her). "It's like listening to a song I've only heard once five years ago."

"And yet," Nathaniel said, leaning on a wall behind the human girls, "You still have a fabulous sense of getting lost in a world unlike yours."

Mary and her friend turned around. At first, Mary looked angry at him, but then confused.

"You're..." she started to say, not sure how to finish.

"I'm his son." Nathaniel informed her. "Estranged in a sense, since he's supposed to be banished anyway, but blood."

"Where's my sister?" Mary almost instantly demanded. "If I find out she's hurt or in danger, you're gonna..."

"Calm yourself kid." Nathaniel told her. "Your sister and I are friends, she said so herself. The only monster she's afraid of is my dad. Not that I can blame her or anything."

Mary stared hard at Nathaniel. She saw him as his dad, he could tell that much. Her friend put a hand on her shoulder, possibly silently warning it may be a trap. Nathaniel didn't plan it that way, not after the conversation he and Mary had next.


	11. Awkward Bonding

"How can I trust you?" Mary asked the lizard monster that looked a lot like his 'father.' If it wasn't for the younger sounding voice, she'd say it actually was Randall. Then again, how would she know after years of not being scared by him at night?

"Because your sister can." the lizard monster said simply.

"It's not enough." Mary told him. The monster looked her over and found that she was being completely honest and subtly demanding. There was something else Mary took note of as the lizard monster looked her over, something she was afraid she'd seen somewhere else back at home with her parents and grandparents alike.

"How old are you?" the lizard monster asked, surprised that the question actually came out of his mouth. Mary hesitated a moment, Leslie dug her nails into Mary's shoulder in warning.

"Fourteen." Mary finally told him. "Years that is, in the human world. I'll be fifteen in two more human months."

"I'm still in Scare School, another two years and I'm out." the lizard monster said. Leslie's mind went into a quick drive.

"Then to college?" she asked. The lizard monster nodded, still staring at Mary. Then, Leslie had a light bulb moment.

"He'd be about sixteen or seventeen Mary." Leslie whispered in her friend's ear. "Only a two year difference, not that bad."

Mary looked at her friend and gave her a quick pinch. Leslie reacted, but did nothing to retort back. Mary turned back to the lizard monster.

"Who are you?" she asked him. He looked at her and Leslie, losing that dreaded look Mary thought he had quickly.

"Nathaniel Boggs." he said in anger... or disdain. "Son of the banished Randall Boggs by order of the CDA; endangering a human child that is the power source of Monstropolis. Who are you, then?"

"Marion Gibbs." Mary told him, against the silent signals Leslie was giving her. "Better known as Mary... or Boo as I was called when I was kidnapped into this world when I was only two years old. I ruined everything this world knew about children."

"You sure did." the lizard monster, Nathaniel as Mary now knew, agreed with a small smirk-smile. Mary side smiled back. Then, Nathaniel grew serious again and slithered as close as he could to the human girls.

"Geez, no private space." Leslie softly said, being the pot that called the kettle black as seeing as she had been clinging onto Mary since Nathaniel started talking to them.

"We can get your sister out of Dad's machine, but we have to be quick. If he catches Sullivan and Wasowski first, you better start praying for lack of bedbugs because it will get ugly." Nathaniel told the girls, directing toward Mary.

"What machine?" Mary asked.

"The same machine he tried to hook you up to."

"The Scream Extractor?"

"The same."

Mary made a face of disgust and fear at remembering the machine. Like a nightmare, the memories came fast and quickly.

"I trust you." she told him. "Show us the way."

Nathaniel gravely nodded and lead the girls to the underground lair. Unknown to them, the entire conversation had been over heard by Randall. He knew Nathaniel would find them, and unknowingly, he had just lead that stupid human girl into his trap. Now to deal with Sullivan...


	12. Confrontations

Randall found Sullivan and Wazowski in the locker rooms. They were talking about something, possibly _her_ more like, and not really on much of a look out. Randall made the opportunity to slither up to them, making them stop dead in their tracks.

"Randall!" Sullivan and Wazowski exclaimed at the same time. Randall smirked.

"Nice to see you again too." the lizard monster said, enjoying their horrified reactions. "Where's the girl?"

"We're not going to tell you anything about Boo!" Sullivan declared, becoming defensive. Randall just laughed.

"You will." Randall told them, growing very dark. Wazowski and Sullivan backed away, an equal amount of fear reflected in their eyes.

. . . . . . . . . .

"Remind me to never let the CDA get a hold of you." Nathaniel remarked as he and Mary got the restraint off of her sister. "They'd have a field day!"

Mary smiled a little as Emma was set free and instantly clung onto Mary.

"Then I should continue working on my biography. It would save them some trouble." she joked.

Nathaniel smiled as well, giving off his first real smile in ages. Leslie was bouncing on her heels with racking nervousness and fear.

"Come on, let's get out of here." she said. Mary looked at Emma, now in her arms, who looked back up at her.

"Are you alright?" Mary asked her.

Emma nodded.

"Yes. Nate was really nice." Emma told her sister. Mary looked at Nathaniel.

"Nate?" she asked, looking slightly bemused. Nathaniel opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by another voice.

"I had given him that nickname when he was younger. Remember son?"

Quickly, everyone looked to see Randall. Mary was instantly reminded of something.

"Where's Sulley and Mike?" she asked. Randall chuckled.

"We don't need to worry about them anymore." Randall said in a tone that did not make Mary feel good. Emma took this note as well and hid herself into the crook of Mary's neck.

"Dad, this is ridiculous!" Nathaniel spoke up. "There's no reason why you need to hunt down a single girl for revenge on something that's been fueling since college!"

"I have all reason too!" Randall declared. "Because of Sullivan and that girl, my life is ruined!"

"Your life?!" Nathaniel shot back. "Your life was already a train wreck for disaster! If anyone's life has been ruined it would have been mine! Did you ever ONCE think about how I felt about your vendetta?! Did you ever think about what MOM felt about it?!"

At the mention of his estranged wife, Randall recoiled and grew angrier. Leslie nudged Mary and motioned for them to make a break for it while they could. Normally, if she was thinking clearly, Mary would have. But something was stopping her from just ditching Nathaniel. Geez, if her life was messed up like that, then she would have wanted someone to stand by her when the big confrontation came out. But that shouldn't mean that Leslie and Emma should stay behind though... Quickly thinking of a plan, she whispered her idea to Leslie. Leslie looked at Mary and mouthed 'Are you sure?' to which Mary nodded and mouthed back, 'Emma can do it.' Leslie looked at her friend but nodded, taking Emma as Mary handed her to Leslie. Soon, with a silent good bye between sisters, Leslie and Emma departed without Randall or Nathaniel noticing. When they were safely away, Mary walked up and slapped both Randall and Nathaniel. She then folded her arms and acted disgraced at the sight of them. They looked at her with the same amount of surprise. Randall then boiled over with anger.

"THAT... IS... IT!" he demanded, lunging at Mary and proceeded to strangle her. "YOU... ARE GOING... TO DIE!"


	13. A Short Climax

Nathaniel was so frozen in shock that he just watched Randall strangle Mary to suffocation.

"WHERE'S SULLIVAN NOW? UH? WHERE IS HE?!" Randall kept shouting at Mary as her face slowly began to change colors. Suddenly, Nathaniel found himself pushing his father off of the human girl.

"What are you doing?!" Randall shouted. Nathaniel could find no words to counter back. Randall then calmed somewhat, but it was easy to tell he was far from.

"Getting rid of the girl is the only way to make our lives easier Nate." Randall told his son in a soft voice as Mary in the background wheezed air back into her lungs. "Once the girl is gone, we can finish off Sullivan and our lives could go back to normal. Who knows? It may even be... perfect."

Nathaniel looked at his father, then looked over at the still wheezing Mary. She was helpless. She would have been easy to take out. But... wasn't there something morally wrong with just finishing her off? In a way, Nathaniel felt kind of... strange around her. She wouldn't have been able to cause so much trouble when she was a child because she didn't mean to. What happened last year happened so quickly, and unexpectedly. Now, because of this girl, their city was in better shape than what it had been before it was established. And she had only been in their world for, what? A day?

"No." Nathaniel told his father. "Hurting... or even killing, Mary isn't going to help anything. We were never on good terms. Ever. Killing a human for your own gain will not make it better. This needs to end, and I'm going to start right now by getting Mary, her sister, and her friend home."

With that, Nathaniel helped Mary up who mumbled a thanks. Randall's fists clenched.

"I do hope though," Nathaniel said, "That the CDA comes up with something better than banishment for you this time."

Randall snarled and nearly lunged at Mary again, but something smacked him across the head, knocking him out. Confused, Mary and Nathaniel looked at the wall of fur that had crept behind the lizard.

"Kitty!" Mary said with a smile, forgetting her age once again. She ran over to him and gave a well needed hug.

"I'm sorry..." she told him. Sulley smiled to and softly made her look at him.

"As long as you're safe Boo. I mean... Mary." he told her. Mary smiled again.

"I don't care what you call me. Just... never leave me for so long again." Mary told him.

"I will never try to." Sulley promised.


	14. Happy Ending

Mary admired herself in the mirror. Fifteen years old today, and she felt pretty accomplished. Her family had given her a surprise birthday party. Well, did _she _have a surprise for _them_! It was time that her family understand that monsters really do exist and that she wasn't just baby babbling years ago. She was able to get Mikey and Sulley into the human world to prove it. It took several minutes for the adults in her family to finally say something. The first one was her grandmother, who admitted that she was involved in a camp scare that was told to have had real monsters years before Mary's dad was born. Mary took note of how Mike and Sulley cringed at the mention of the camp scare, and reminded herself to ask of it later.

Later, Mary took notice of her closet door opened a crack and peered inside. It was the Monsters' Inc warehouse, but no one was on the other side. Until a familiar face materialized in front of her.

"Hello Nathaniel." Mary said, smiling a little.

"Happy birthday Mary." the blue lizard monster said, smiling back a little as well. "So you're fifteen now?"

"Yep. Don't feel any older though."

Nathaniel nodded in agreement, then the two went into a near awkward silent.

"The, uh..." Nathaniel started, "The CDA has given me permission when you're eighteen."

Mary was quickly elated.

"They let you?!" she asked, happy and surprised.

"Yeah." Nathaniel agreed. "They even gave permission for you to stay in our world for a few monster years."

"Seriously?!" Mary asked, completely elated now. When Nathaniel nodded in confirmation, Mary gave him a very happy hug. At the sudden embrace, Nathaniel blushed until Mary pulled away.

"We have to tell Mom and Dad!" Mary told him, holding onto his arms in delight. Nathaniel wondered if she might be so happy, she could faint.

"Better yet!" Mary then added, "We should tell Kitty! He'll be so happy!"

"He won't be the only one." Nathaniel reminded her.

"That's right!" she agreed. "Mike and Celia would be happy too!"

Nathaniel looked a little irritated and hurt. Mary noticed this and she knew why too, but it was easy to push his buttons. She pushed her way past him and into the monster world.

"Come on, let's go tell them now!" Mary shouted over her shoulder, nearly running into a monster that was setting up for the day's laugh routine. Nathaniel paused a moment, then slithered after her wondering what kind of kid it takes to mess up an entire 'before time' mind set that children were deadly and prove that all they know is absolutely wrong. It wasn't like Mary was the most liked or remembered. She had a pretty stable family and pleasant childhood that no one should ever forget. Maybe she was just a kid that was at the wrong place at the right time. Who knows? But she sure did make things interesting for the rest of them, that's for sure. For all Nathaniel cared, he didn't believe there was a true rhyme or reason for it. He just cared that he could spend time with one of the most interesting girls (of any species) he had met. And it was going to stay that way for a _long_ time.


End file.
